1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to athletic field boundaries, and in particular to a method of defining and quickly establishing temporary boundaries and proper demarcations for the playing field of the sport being practiced or played.
2. Prior Art
Traditional field sports such as football, flag football, soccer, rugby, field hockey, ultimate frisbee and lacrosse that are played on rectangular playing fields continue to grow in popularity year after year. The availability of suitable areas for practice and competition among amateur athletes presents a problem. Coaches and organizers for participants, from youth soccer teams to adult rugby, generally locate grassy areas in parks or at school yards, then proceed define the playing field with makeshift objects such as clothing, gym bags or cones. Conventional means of more permanently marking playing fields include chalk, paint or trenching to remove grass along the sidelines and end lines to define the playing field.
Various apparatus and methods have been used for laying out playing areas, including EIDEN, U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,059, which describes field markers imbedded into the ground as a more permanent demarcation; CAPACHI, U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,872 which also describes a permanent boundary imbedded into the ground; MILBURN, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,921 which describes a device and methodology for preparing an athletic field for application of paint or chalk. In CAGLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,109 a portable soccer court is described which includes enclosing walls and a plurality of rigid transparent panels defining said court.
Also, various apparatus and methods have been used for laying out playing courts for tennis, volleyball and badminton, but these methods lack the appropriate demarcation elements for field sports where goals of particular width or goal lines for determination of scoring are required including MOORE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,359; RAUB, U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,243; VIENS, U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,383.
Heretofore, there has been no simple, economical, portable means of quickly establishing a boundary of proper size with the appropriate demarcations for practice or competition of field sports that can be easily dispatched, retrieved and stored for subsequent future uses.